Directed by: Dean Parisot.
Written by: Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon.
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Bridgette Lundy-Paine, William Sadler, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Kid Cudi, Jillian Bell.
This film opens up to a story recap, on what has happened from the first two films, which were a hit in 1989 and 1991, to help the audience understand what Bill and Ted are all about (in case the audience haven’t watched, or know about, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey).
I was excited to see this and had time to watch both of the previous films before taking a trip to Cineworld to watch this one, I even had Warner Brothers UK tweet me an automatic update to let me know the film was available to watch at the cinema’s, which was random, but it did remind me to book my ticket to go and watch – thanks to Warner Brothers!
For anyone who hasn’t seen these films yet, the first film, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure is based around two best friends who, back in 1989, discovered time travel, which they used to their advantage to learn about History to pass their History class, otherwise Ted would be sent to military school. Hence, they end up time travelling to ensure that doesn’t happen and enables them to pass their class. The second film, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, they time travel again to prevent two robots, evil Bill and Ted, from destroying their band audition, to become musicians, they use time travel to try and help them become better musicians, which works, as they win the competition, becoming famous, and ending up on Mars.
You’re probably thinking (if you haven’t seen/heard of the first two films) “What the heck? That’s so random! Those two films sound random and unentertaining” Trust me, they are good films. They are funny, light-hearted entertainment, and within the 30-year gap since Bogus Journey, the story writing, directing, etc., hasn’t changed, which is why I enjoyed the film so much as they kept it much the same as they did with the previous two, making it an enjoyable watch, oh and if you are a Glee fan, Jayma Mays, aka Emma, stars as Princess Joanna (Bills wife).
With this film it shows Bill and Ted as middle-aged fathers, still rocking, trying to make it big, but have brought up their daughters to have a big passion for music, and who are also best friends, and they live next to each other in San Dimas, California.
The Time Machine phone booth returns, and in this film – someone from the future turns up in what I can only describe as like a time capsule time machine, to tell Bill and Ted the world is about to end as we know it. For the world to be saved, they need to perform their song to bring peace and harmony to the world again. Bill and Ted obviously agree to this; otherwise, we wouldn’t have a movie.
With this mission, they also take it upon themselves to try and change time to prevent their wives from leaving them, by changing a few things but discover that no matter what universe they visit their wives seem to be unhappy in each of them. Their daughters get involved in helping their dads, by also time travelling to form a band. A whole heap of complications occur where Thea and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving) end up in hell after being *accidentally* shot by a future robot who is trying to kill Bill and Ted, yeah I know, random but stay with me on this. Bill and Ted end up in hell also after this future robot finally finds them, and he too ends up in hell, so it ends up eventually becoming a reunion because you know, that happens, but this is also a great climax to a brilliant film – I promise!
Aside from this, without giving TOO MUCH away, I really enjoyed this film, and I may get shot for this; I think this film was *slightly* more entertaining than the first two, but that isn’t to say the first two films aren’t funny, because they are funny, I just enjoyed this one a little more, and having the idea that one song could bring the whole world together in harmony and peace is nothing but a far-fetched wish, and if all it took was for one song to unite the whole world, then count me in on that! It was lovely to watch and to have the feeling that there are still people out there who are kind, and compassionate, and decent humans much like Bill and Ted and their daughters, Thea and Billie.
In summary, this was a great watch – thoroughly enjoyed it, and if you were around when the first two came out – you lucky people, and haven’t been able to catch this at the movies, it is still showing at Vue cinema’s, and if, like me, you were not in the world when the first two films were created, then what are you waiting for? Plan a night in, watch them, then take yourself down to the cinema and watch Face the Music – help out the cinema’s, they are really struggling, use the excuse to watch this film!
I give this a 5 star rating!
Room For A Review 